Thursday, April 28, 2011

The purpose of this post is to evaluate the special abilities of the Beastman army.There are three primary abilities that the Beastman army can take advantage of: Ambush, Bloodgreed and Primal Fury.Of the three abilities, we will be covering Bloodgreed and Primal Fury.

Various armies have certain defining characteristics that make them unique.Wood elves have the ability to move and shoot without penalty and have forest strider, just to name a few.Vampire Counts are unbreakable and cause fear, not to mention they can also resurrect dead allies.Lizardmen have scaly skin and cold blooded.High elves always strike first and have high magic.Every army has some advantage to give them a unique feel and purpose.

Beastman Special Ability: Primal Fury

The Primal Fury ability is perhaps one of the most underestimated abilities in the entire army.The ability itself provides the unit the Hatred special rule whenever they unit passes a leadership test also known as a Primal Fury roll.Now unlike normal Hatred, the Beastman units that are able to benefit from this special ability are allowed to roll for Primal Fury every round.In addition to the standard Hatred rule, if a unit rolls double 1’s for it’s Primal Fury roll they also benefit from Frenzy.In essence what has now happened is that Beastmen’s combat effectiveness has now matched that of the High Elves with their Always Strikes First special rule.Every unit engaged in close combat that can use Primal Fury now has the chance to reroll all their misses.This ability makes the core choices for the Beastmen army even more effective.Gors, Ungors and Tuskgor Chariots (not to mention also Bestigors but they are Specials) now have the chance to counteract the lack of armor and strength they have with an increased number of hits in close combat.

This ability is generally overlooked when a new player encounters the army.It isn’t until they see the Hatred in action every round (if lucky) that they realize how effective the Beastmen can be in close combat.Having Core units suddenly rerolling all their misses and making your opponent suffer more wounds is a huge game changer.Also this ability is not dependant upon a character in the unit, the basic core units come with the ability standard.

Synergy:The Primal Fury rule has several options within the army book to be even more potent than the first casual glance would notice.Here are a few of the many examples:

1.Character with Brass Cleaver – now the character has +1 attack per model in base to base contact.Couple this will the ability to reroll misses and you have a lot of hits and more than likely a lot of wounds to deal with from a character model.

2.Character with Steel Claws – again like the Brass Cleaver you know have 1d3+1 additional attacks to get Primal Fury rerolls with.

3.Lore of Beasts: Savage Beasts of Horros – Granting a character in a unit +3 Str and +3 attacks, coupled with any of the items listed above can and will grant a character up to 10+ attacks in a round with high strength.This can lead to the “blender” effect where Primal Fury makes an already potent character even more deadly.

4.Gors using two-hand weapons instead of shields – Gors using 2 hand weapons granting them an additional attack only continues the trend of making your opponent roll more dice for saves.Combine this with the Lore of Beasts spell “Wyssan’s Wildform” and a Totem of Rust and put your Gors in a wide formation (or Horde formation) and you could be swinging with Strength 4 attacks and -3 to armor saves and be Toughness 5 to boot.That is not a combination that any heavily armored unit would want to deal with.

5.Ungors with spears and shields – Granting your Ungors an additional rank with spears (or another if in horde formation) allows even the “no-horn” Beastmen to really capitalize on the Primal Fury ability and I can guarantee your opponent won’t underestimate them again. Especially if you use any of the combinations mentioned in example no.4.

Beastman Special Ability: Bloodgreed

The Bloodgreed special ability is perhaps one of the most devastating abilities in the game.Not because it reduces armor, or changes a model’s toughness or even kills a model outright.The Bloodgreed ability turns whatever models that affect it into absolute killing machines.I dare say that this ability should be a character only ability after seeing how insane it ramps up during normal games.

The Bloodgreed special ability grants the model the Frenzy special rule upon winning a round of combat.If the models continue to win combat and do not lose a round they will gain an additional attack for every round they win.The ability to earn additional attacks each round that are cumulative until you lose a fight is for lack of a better term insane.This ability being only available on certain character choices, a special selection (Minotaurs) and a Rare selection (Ghorgon) is probably a good thing.

This ability is generally underestimated until it is seen in action and then both sides of the table see exactly how this power changes the face of the battlefield.

Example:4 Minotaurs armed with Light Armor and an Additional Hand Weapon will turn out 4 attacks each normally or 16 attacks total.Let us say that these four minotaurs charge a unit of 20 skeletons and win combat.The Minotaurs next round will each gain Frenzy as a result of Bloodgreed and now will have 5 attacks each or 20 total.Now let’s say this combat ends after 3 more turns (due to the Vampire building the unit up each turn with Invocation).Each Minotaur provided they have had no casualties will now be swinging with 8 attacks each for a total of 32 attacks.32 attacks at Strength 5 and Weapon Skill 4 will literally kill almost anything it touches.This is not a rare occurrence either, in my game last night against Orcs and Goblins my Minotaurs were swinging with 8 attacks each at the end of the game.

This ability is also not dependant upon having a character in the unit, 2 of the selections in the Beastman army get it as part of their point cost.I believe however that Games Workshop intentionally put some drawbacks or limitations on the use of Bloodgreed by simply altering the load out on Minotaurs.Minotaurs and Ghorgons may not take Heavy armor (well the characters can).They are very expensive models, the Minotaurs are only Toughness 4 with light armor and the Ghorgon is Toughness 6 with no armor.So while the units can and do turn into incredible killing machines, they are not invulnerable.Also, due to their point cost and selection type, you are rather limited on how many you can take in a normal game.That said, let us examine some synergy you can utilize Bloodgreed with in the Beastman army.

Synergy: The Bloodgreed ability can be capitalized on easily by creating a proper environment for the models affected.

1.Bloodkine with Frenzy sword – By using the unit champion and giving him the 10-15 point magic weapon that gives the him (and by extension his unit) Frenzy to begin the game with will allow you to automatically increase the number of attacks before even getting into combat.This way as soon as you win your first round you begin to gain the additional attacks right off the bat.

2.Gorebull with Minotaur unit – The Gorebull automatically starts out with Frenzy just like the example above.The difference is that you can begin to kit out the Gorebull or make him the Battle Standard Bearer as well.There are also several methods you can kit out the character which I’ll list in the next example.

3.Doombull with Minotaur unit – The Doombull is your ultimate wrecking ball on the field.You surround him with his 5-7 Minotaurs and point him in the direction of a unit that needs to die.There are also several options on how to kit out a Doombull/Gorebull to maximize your Bloodgreed and Killing Spree.Here are a few ideas.

A.Doombull with Axe of Swift Slaying and Uncanny Senses – This option is self explanatory.You give the Doombull or Gorebull +1 to Initiative making him 5/4 and equip him with the Always Strikes First weapon.This is an alpha strike style kit in which you are sure to maximize the carnage of your character and then allow the blender that are your supporting Minotaurs to bat clean up.This build ensures that you begin to build up attacks quickly for the unit.

B.Doombull/Gorebull with Brass Cleaver or Steel Claw – once again you are increasing the amount of attacks your character unleashes which will further increase your chances of winning combat and gaining more attacks with the Minotaurs.

C.Doombull/Gorebull w/ Axes of Khorgor – this option allows you to ensure you have a high hit percentage since the Axes of Khorgor allow you to reroll misses.Not the most point economical method since the Uncanny Senses/Axe of Swift Slaying will generally grant you rerolls to hit anyway.The bonus you get is the +1 attack.

D.Gorebull BSB w/ Beast Banner or Banner of Rust – one banner makes your Minotaurs Strength 6 while the other increases their mortality since they would have absolutely no save but at the same time makes any unit they fight suffer a -4 to their armor saves.Either banner augments and increases the effectiveness of Bloodgreed.

4.Lore of Beasts spells that benefit the Minotaur units – Wyssan’s Wildform and Savage Beasts of Horros.Augmenting the unit making them Str 6 and Toughness 5 increases their durability and survival.Granting the Doombull/Gorebull +3 Strength and +3 attacks sends the power level of that unit into ridiculous levels.

5.Placing the Bloodgreed Character (Doombull/Gorebull) with 20mm/40mm footprint models.You can always spread Frenzy around the army – try placing the Gorebull with a unit of Ungors or Razorgors.Granting them Frenzy never hurt anyone and gives some punch to the unit.The downside is units that have a Doombull/Gorebull in them and are affected by Bloodgreed can not benefit from Primal Fury as well.

6.Orchestrate proper Flank/Rear Charges with your Minotaurs/Ghorgons.Ghorgons and Minotaurs shine when they are presented a flank to slam into.The Ghorgon who starts out with 6 attacks (7 with Frenzy) can easily ramp up to 11-12 attacks after a few quick rounds of eating some basic core troops.Minotaurs relish in slaying from the flank, it provides them the full deadliness of their unit without having to worry about a large amount of attacks swinging back at them.

I feel that Minotaurs and Ghorgons should get Frenzy and leave the Bloodgreed to the Doombull/Gorebull models.That ability is way too good to be a standard ability for a 55 point model.However I’m not going to complain since I’m going to use the hell out of it until a new army book is released for Beastmen.

In closing – I hope this information has been helpful.If anything it will provide those who do not play Beastmen with a little bit of information on what to expect so that you don’t get caught with your pants down.Nothing sucks worse than having a unit of 5 minotaurs and a doombull smash into your unit with each of them sporting 11 attacks.You have been warned!

Monday, April 18, 2011

This Sunday I took part in the 2011 1st Round Ard Boyz Fantasy Tournament at Ancient Wonders. We had a pretty good turn out and had a lot of really strong armies playing.
We had:
2 Empire
2 Warriors of Chaos
2 Skaven
2 Vampire Counts
1 High Elves
1 Lizardmen
1 Wood Elves (me!)

The tournament went very smoothly, we had a lot of strong players who seriously brought their A game. The 3 Scenarios were interesting. The first scenario just annoyed the every living hell out of me. The third scenario was just plain insane. I did not have high expectations of doing well in this tournament just due to the fact that some armies function a lot better at higher point levels - Vampire Counts and Skaven are prime examples. Even at 3000 points I still only had 113 models - a majority of them with T3 and S3. I hate to admit it but I did end up caving to the pull of the Wood Elf Deathstar. I fielded my 30 man unit of Eternal Guard w/ the Rhymer's harp, Spirit Sword, Razor Standard and Wraithstone. I fully came to terms with the fact that I had indeed brought the douche.

I'm going to only show a few rounds of each game in order to prevent this post from being too insanely long.
Preliminary Scenario 1 - EYZ DON'T SEE SO GOOD!
This scenario pissed me off so much - I hate having my functionality restricted especially when I roll a 2 for visibility 2 turns out of 4. I played Carl and his Empire this game, it was the Mission Engagement Deployment with 3 Battle Modifiers.

Empire took the first turn and started to lay into the Wood Elves. Mortars flying, Steam tanks shooting, and general mayhem ensued.

Here are some pictures of our Deployment:

Alas you see the true devious mastermind behind the army, you think she's playing a DS but she's actually running extremely powerful algorithms to calculate the proper tactical decisions. Unfair imho.
Anyway - the game was a friggin blast. I had my Eternal Guard block charged by the Steam Tank and because I had Irresistible Force cast Savage Beast of Horos my characters were at +3 str and +3 attacks.
I suffered 15 impact hits from the Steam Tank, ward saving a ton of them and then just had the Highborn swing and literally one round the Steam Tank. I did 13 wounds to it as a result of 7 attacks at S7 and the Spirit Sword getting 6 additional wounds.

The game was pretty long but I will attempt to summarize it briefly:
Turn 1
Empire unloads mortars into archers, steam tank shoots at the 2 Glade Guard units. Waywatchers eat some hits from templates.
Wood Elves roll a 2 for visibility - sigh... and just spend the turn moving and buffing up.
Turn 2 - Steam tank charges Eternal guard and gets popped. More casualties to the archers as the Arch Lector charges the Glade Guard taking a few wounds but not dying. Treekin and Eternal Guard charge the KotWW and get stuck in combat for 3 turns - sigh...
Turn 3 - Empire brings on reinforcements and manuevers appropriately to bunker down.
Eternal Guard and Treekin and Eagles kill off the Knights, the Warrior Priest, hellblaster volley gun, and charge the Swordsmen with the Dryads.
Turn 4 - Empire charges Dryads with KotBS and backs up BSB and his unit to prevent being flank charged.
Wood Elves roll another god damn 2 for visibility which prevents the incoming death from Wood elven fury to the Halberdiers.

This was a pretty solid list, there was a LOT of magic and dice generation in this army. Good tactic really.

Pictures of our deployment.

To summarize the game:
Turn 1 - High elves kill all but 2 Waywatchers and General with Flames of the Phoenix. John is quietly angered since that is his favorite unit.
Wood elves retaliate by shooting up 2 units and reducing them to half strength while advancing across the board.
Turn 2 - Teclis continues to attack the Waywatchers and fails to cast a spell ending his magic phase.
Turns 3-4 Wood Elves charge his line and the Eternal Guard and Treekin chew through several units. The White Lions and Swordsmen are shot to pieces by Glade Guard with Stand and Shoot reactions. Waywatcher general reduces Dragon Princes down from 10 to 5 with his arcane bodkins. Teclis is slain at the bottom of Turn 3.
Turn 5 - Dragon Princes, Korhil and the Lion Chariot finally are slain.

Result - Wood Elves- Massacre victory.
After the game I talked with Nick about using his units differently and deploying better. Giving his archers unrestricted line of sight was key. Also using his 4 main melee units as a single offensive wing and multicharging would yield a LOT better results. His next game against Skaven went spectacularly well.

Preliminary Scenario 3 - THE END TIMES!
The third and final scenario was pretty damn hard. I had a massive error in timekeeping this game which cost me a huge massacre victory. This mission required you to have a single piece of terrain serve as the chaos portal. You must have a character in base contact with the portal in order to win otherwise when the game ends on it's random game length - it's a draw. Not to mention there are also 6 different chaotic events that can happen during the round at the top of every game turn. Frenzy, D6 wounds that aren't saveable per unit, movement halved, auto-channeling for power/dispel dice, -1 to shoot or the gift of chaos boost to your general.
I played against Josh's Empire Gunline army which was comprised of the following:
Hanz Franz Shooter of the Goose (having to recall the army from memory since for some reason I can't find his list)
General w/ Stubborn crown and another item.
BSB
Level 4 Wizard
Level 2 Wizard
Arch Lector on Altar
50 swordsmen w/ full command and +1 LD banner
detatchment 20 halberdiers
detachment 20 handgunners
20 handgunners
detachment 10 handgunners
2 x 5 Empire Knights w/ full command
1 unit of pistoleers
1 hellblaster
2 great cannons
18 flaggellants
1 Steam Tank

Deployment was Meeting Engagement and unfortunately Josh ended up having half his army in reserves which left many of his units fair game for slaughter in the first turn.

Deployment:

Brief summary:
Turn 1 - Waywatchers kill his Level 4 Wizard, Glade Guard units kill his units of handgunners causing panic tests and making them flee. Level 2 Wizard also flees. Pistoleers shoot up the Wild Riders because Sylvos forgot about them, Arch Lector gets killed while attempting to charge glade guard, several knights get eaten due to a stand and shoot reaction with the other Glade Guard. Dryads hold against the Steam tank charging and inflict a wound. Flagellents charge Waywatcher and General and get slaughtered before they can swing back.
Turn 2 - Great Eagles charge Hellblaster and slay it. Treekin barrel forward along with Eternal Guard. Glade Guard flee from 2 charges. Eternal Guard gets charged by 30 Swordsmen and their detachment of halberdiers and slaughter the Empire scum. Halberdiers flee from the fight.
Turn 3 - Steam tank barrels forward and kills the newly rallied Dryads. Glade Guard manage to kill the last of the Empire Knights. Treekin charge a cannon after the cannon popped a great Eagle. Eternal Guard charge the General's unit of Swordsmen and their detachment and deal an insane amount of wounds but the Empire holds.
Turn 4 - This is where I made a critical error, still thinking it was turn 3 I did not move my General onto the damn terrain. Meanwhile the rest of my army is tied up all over the board chasing Empire around. I fail to slay his general or the rest of the unit by the end of the 4th turn and I roll a 5 which ends the game. Even though I had a full on Massacre victory... I got a draw.

Game 3 Result: Tie.

I managed to place 3rd over all and I would have placed higher if I hadn't severely screwed up in the last mission. I had a great time against Josh, Nick and Carl and it looks like I'm going to the next round in Salem.
It's like 10:30 and I'm beat so I'm going to wrap up this terrible Tournament report and post some images of some of the other battles I snapped pictures of while playing my own. I will be playing orcs again in 2 weeks and hopefully some Skaven as well. Full battle reports w/ battle maps will be inc.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Being a big fan of competitive gameplay and a challenging game, I've signed up for the 'Ard Boyz tournament this weekend. I'll be providing battle reports and pictures - you can expect a lot of unpainted armies since most of the people I play with usually play at around 2000 points.

Anyway, this is the list I'm taking. I've decided to attempt the super annoying L10 Stubborn Lore of Beasts Spirit Sword 5+ ward Save Eternal Guard Bunker of Doom. In reality all I did was add 1 unit and 2 characters to my 2000 point list and enlarged my core units. Goal is to utilize the Spirit Sword and Wraithstone against my enemies other deathstar units while the rest of my army functions pretty much the same.

The Highborn with the Spirit Sword, the BSB and the Spellweaver join the 27 Eternal Guard into a unit of 30. They will be flanked by Wild Riders and Treekin while the Dryads will serve as a protective escort for my Waywatchers. The Glade Guard units will focus fire on my primary targets while the Great Eagles hunt warmachines. In other words - this list works the exact same as my 2k one only I added a big ass block of cheese to the situation.

We'll see how it does. I feel pretty damn cheesy using Eternal Guard and even more cheesy using 3 chars in 1 unit but whatever it's Ard Boyz. If Orion would only allow you to bring Waywatchers =(.

Someday - there will be a Wood Elf army book released that will fix the Forest Spirit Ward Save and allow Spellsingers to take Lore of Beasts and Life. There will be cheaper units and more cost effective cavalry and my friends that day there shall be rainbows and unicorns for all!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Last Wednesday Neil and I decided to continue the ongoing series of Orcs vs. Wood Elves we've been playing since 8th edition came out. The last game Neil absolutely annihilated me in turn 1. The old Orc Waaaagh and the Waaaagh spell were just well the win. This was the 4th game in our series and Neil had been up 2-1. We were both playing the lists we plan on bringing to OFCC this year and this was one of Neil's first games with the new Orc army book. Needless to say it was a pretty good game. I'll narrate as we go.

Oh and so that Neil has a sense of satisfaction from the previous game here is the 1st and only turn from last game.

Anyway, that said let's go on to this last game.

Armies:
The Great Hunt, War Host of Athel Loren - 2000 point Wood Elf army
vs.
The Green Tide - 2000 point Orcs and Goblins army.

Deployment:
As you can see we both deployed very well. This game I set up my army to function as 2 wings. The melee wing and the ranged wing. I finished and scored first turn.

Turn 1 Wood Elves
I chose to slink forward and let him come to me instead of moving full tilt forward and open myself to charges like I have in the last 2 games. The magic phase wasn't that impressive, I managed to get Wild Form off on the Wild Riders. Shooting was pretty good - managed to do 1 wound to the Orc Shaman and 2 Wounds to his Wyvern. The Glade Guard managed to reduce AB3 unit down to half strength as well.

Orcs Turn 1
The Orcs had a bit of trouble. Animosity really ran rampant through Neil's army. He had 3 units just do nothing - meanwhile his Orc Shaman hit me with Foot of Gork on my Waywatchers causing 3 casualties and he caused one of my Great Eagles to explode with his Spear Chukka.

Wood Elves Turn 2
Turn 2 was a pretty good turn for the Wood Elves. I was able to move my units into a strong flank and focus fire on his Arachnarok. Caused more wounds to his AB3 unit and inflicted 2 woulds on his Arachnarok.

Turn 2 Orcs
This turn Neil still had animosity issues but did start the game in earnest. He charged my Waywatchers with his Troll unit 2 and his General on the wyvern to which the Waywatchers fled 12" causing 2 failed charges. Oh that was after a stand and shoot against his Trolls where they made all 5 saves ...stupid regen. Wild Riders and Dryads were engaged in combat while the Arachnarok took 3 more wounds from Stand and Shoot but managed to slam into the Glade Guard nonetheless.

Turn 3 Wood Elves
Wood Elves had a pretty good turn. The Arachnarok had chewed through the Glade Guard and ended up out of position. The Wild Riders slew the Orcs they were engaged in and charged the General on his Wyvern. The Treekin charged the other orcs while the Dryads remained locked in combat with the other Trolls. Waywatchers rallied and the Spellweaver turned into a Great Fire Dragon. This turn was pretty rough for the Orcs. General was slain by Wild Riders, Treekin blew through their orcs and the Trolls were held by the Dryads. The Glade Guard and Spell Weaver inflicted 2 more wounds on the Arachnarok and turn 3 for the Wood Elves ended. Oh yeah, Miscast with the Spellweaver reducing her to level 2 and making her forget Transformation of Kadon.

Turn 4 Orcs
The death of the general causes the T2 unit of Trolls to flee. The Treekin killing the other orcs makes the other unit of Trolls flee - even after they had decimated the Dryads. The Wyvern died to the Wild Riders while the Spear Chukka's moved out of charge range for the Treekin. Neil dispelled the Transformation of Kadon. Bye dragon =(

Turn 5 Wood Elves
The Glade Guard advance along with the Waywatchers and shoot up the remaining Orc units while the Treekin readjust. I move the lone Wild Rider away from the Spear Chukkas so that Neil won't get 290 points for popping the remaining model.

Turn 5 Orcs

The Goblin shaman rallies while the other two Trolls flee off the board. The Spear Chukka's pop the remaining Eagle and the Orcs shoot up the Glade Guard unit.

Turn 6 Wood Elves
My final turn - I move the Glade Guard and Waywatchers up and pretty much just advance right into the Chukka's. Waywatchers pop the Shaman and kill him while the AB3 unit is shot up some more by the Glade Guard.

Orcs turn 6
Here Neil had a good chance to tie up the game. If he had been able to catch and destroy the Glade Guard with the Spellweaver in it, charge and kill the Waywatchers and if I had not rolled a 6 on my Ward Save for the last Wild Rider then it would have been a tie game. He tried - almost was successful.

Winner: Wood Elves

I had a great time, Neil and I have a pretty good friendly rivalry going and after he tweeks his list to minimize animosity that army may flatten everything it runs into.

Three things I did this game which I did not do in my last 3.
1. Set up for combo charges - didn't get any but that's ok I had the foundation laid.
2. Focus Fire on primary units.
3. Picked my fights and didn't spread out like a moron.

Thanks for reading the battle report. I'll try to get these out more often and with better accuracy.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Brief update here for the blog. Went to the game store this morning and assembled my 2 new Great Eagles from www.coolminiornot.com and was pleased with how easily the process went.

The Eagles took a little bit of trimming and shaving to fit together and unfortunately John decided to green stuff before properly fitting them together so he had some gap work to do.
They really are awesome models and I'm pleased with the results.
Here are some images.

I figured I should also show some of the WIP on my Beastmen army I've been playing/painting. I will admit I have been slacking in the painting department for a while. My new job keeps me busy. I also experimented with freehanding an image on a banner. I'm not really pleased with how it turned out but oh well.

Doombull and his Minotaur guard.

I also thought I'd show you how big the eagles are compared to the Doombull.

Lastly here is a close up of the banner, what do you folks think? Pop it off and paint a minotaur glyph or keep it and drybrush red over it to fade it a little?
Feel free to give your critique, if it looks lame then it looks lame.

There we go - I still have a lot more to do on the minotaurs. I am pleased with their flesh tones - I painted Tallarn Flesh on top of Beastial brown and then washed with Ogryn flesh three times.